208 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



health, constant care and attention are required, and where 

 these cannot be bestowed I would advise people not to think of 

 growing Plums or any other fruit for the market. 



DESSERT PLUMS. 



By Mr. T. Francis Rivers, F.R.H.S. 



The Plum as a dessert fruit does not take the same rank as the 

 Peach or Pear, and its position is limited to one class only, the 

 Green Gage and its relatives ; nor do they at present constitute 

 a national industry of the same importance as the cooking and 

 preserving Plums which are grown for distribution in our 

 markets, and are supplied in enormous quantities, both of home 

 and foreign growth. But there is a likelihood that, as the drying 

 of Plums becomes an industry of greater value, dessert Plums 

 will assume an importance far beyond the position they at 

 present occupy, because the sweeter and more luscious the Plum 

 is, the better will the dried fruit be. 



It is not very easy to draw the line between dessert and 

 cooking Plums, as some people, especially those who supply 

 dessert at hotel dinners, consider a dish of large Victorias or 

 Magnum Bonums quite good enough for this purpose. 



The ordinary Green Gage is too well known to be described 

 here, but there are many varieties which have been raised from 

 it, ripening from July to October, and all possessing more or less 

 the characteristics of the prototype. Among these the most 

 prominent are the July Green Gage, or Reine Claude de Bavay 

 Hative, and the Early Green Gage, in warm seasons ripening 

 in July. 



I remember, many years - since, when the July Green Gage 

 was introduced, that much interest was excited by its precocity 

 and fertility. In one of those rare and abundant seasons with 

 which our country is occasionally favoured some small trans- 

 planted bushes were literally covered with fruit. The flavour 

 was, however, disappointing, and not in any way equal to the 

 Green Gage as a dessert fruit. 



These are followed jn August by the Oullins' Golden Gage, a 

 very large and distinct Plum, with a very refined and delicious 



